Not long ago, the idea of harnessing the immune system to fight cancer was regarded as a pipedream. Most researchers had given up on it. But this year it won a Nobel prize, and it has led to treatments that are revolutionizing cancer care. nyti.ms/2DSJ7DU

Writers of Star Trek just needed a storytelling device to get the starship Enterprise from one place in the galaxy to another. So it's an unexpected surprise that physicists have figured out equations to show that "warp drive" isn't necessarily impossible. nyti.ms/2R7G8up